WASHINGTON, D.C. – If there is a kind of mantra that has been whispered about and around this Washington Capitals team this spring it goes something like this: we are not what we were.

And the very fact we are writing these words four games into the Eastern Conference final is a testament to the truth of that refrain. The Washington Capitals are not who they were. At least not yet.

But in watching the Capitals dominate the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, outshooting them 38-20, holding a 65-45 edge in shot attempts and winning 58 percent of the faceoffs but somehow finding a way to lose their second straight at home and fifth at home overall in the playoffs by a 4-2 count, well, gee, maybe this Washington team isn’t as far ahead of its past as they’d like to think.

We’ll find out soon enough, of course, as this conference final series now tied at two wins apiece heads back to Tampa where the Capitals were dynamite in winning the first two games...